Fatal Flaws
by Aish Sheva
Summary: Four demigods' musings on their fatal flaws. Oneshot.


Summary: Four demigods' musings on their fatal flaws.

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.**

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Everybody's got one. Even the most perfect person in the world has something-even if it's just one tiny thing-that could potentially bring everything around them crashing down. What's mine? Well, it's always hardest to say in yourself. Sometimes it's impossible to tell. But I've thought about it and I think I know.

My fatal flaw is my insecurity, especially regarding the people close to me. I wake up every morning and think, _maybe today will be the day everything comes crashing down. Maybe today I'll slip up, say something I didn't mean to. Maybe today will be the day I'm left alone and friendless. _And when night falls, I breathe a sigh of relief that I am safe for another little while.

However, insecurity goes hand in hand with loneliness. A recurring nightmare of mine is that I am the only person left in the camp...in the world. In the dream I walk out of my cabin and look around. Everything is totally silent. There is no one around, and I am the only living thing-human or animal-still breathing. I always wake up from that nightmare sweating and gasping for air, before I glance desperately around at my cabin mates to make sure they're still there. They always are, but that doesn't help my worry.

Someday, though, I hope to conquer my fears and overcome my flaws. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to find a friend in myself.

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My fatal flaw is personal loyalty. Athena was the one who told me so, about a year or two ago when I saw her on Olympus. I didn't see what was so bad about being loyal to my friends, but then she told me that the worst flaws are the ones that are good in moderation.

I guess she might have a point there. In Harry Potter, the title character goes off to save his godfather which just ends up getting him killed rather than saving him. That was definitely a time when I saw just how dangerous personal loyalty could be.

_To save a friend, you would sacrifice the world. _When Athena said that, it really made me think. Just how much would I give to help a friend? How much is too much?

I know that sacrificing the world is over the top; anyone would. But that's an extreme. There's no scale to show the proper limits of what's fine to do to help to a friend and what's excessive. These are the kind of lines that are smudged easily and drawn in a different place for everyone. My life isn't a book, and I'm going to have to figure this stuff out without an author to write a happy ending for me.

_To save a friend, you would sacrifice the world. _

Would I?

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Hubris. When I first told Percy, he thought I had said hummus. I thought that was ridiculous-I mean, who ever heard of lethal hummus? Killer hummus? Hummus that could lead to your downfall? But I'm babbling here, and I need to get back on topic.

I learned my fatal flaw from the Sirens. All in all, not the nicest way to hear it, especially if obtaining the knowledge almost brings about your death. But is there really any pleasant way to learn about what could be your demise? I don't think so.

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had taken Luke up on his offer so many years ago on the_ Princess Andromeda. _Would the planet really be a better place?

_Of course! _one side of me argues. _I could have been the one to rebuild the world. _

_No! _the other side says. _I'm still just a teenager. Better people have tried and failed. _

And so on, and so forth, until all I want to do is scream. There are some things that I'll never know, and this is one of them. Logic tells me that that it was smart not to accept Luke's offer, that he was a manipulative traitor. But who says I always agree with that?

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Well, I guess mine is holding grudges. That's what Bianca told me, anyway. But I think that I was justified in having a grudge against Percy-it's his fault my sister's dead.

A couple of times I've thought about what it would be like to be one of those people who just lets everything go. You know the type-the kid who's mad at you one day, and then barely remembers your fight the next. I think that's pretty stupid-I've never been one for "forgive and forget".

Holding a grudge isn't quite as bad as some other people's fatal flaws, but it's pretty easy to use against someone. It's just hard to let things go sometimes, and it's easier for some people then others.

It's the fatal flaw of every child of Hades, and I think I know why: death in history has always held grudges against people, and it always wins out in the end.

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Reviews are appreciated, flames are accepted, constructive criticism is greatly valued. Thanks for reading!

Thanks also goes to my wonderful beta reader the Epitome of Randomness.

-Sheva Das


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